ARM announces 2GHz Cortex A9

ARM has announced it has developed dual-core Cortex A9 processors capable of delivering clock speeds in excess of 2GHz.

The new processors will be manufactured using TSMC's 40nm production
process, allowing them to attain such high clocks with relatively low
power consumption. The new parts should deliver 4,000 DMIPS while
consuming less than 250mW per CPU. ARM also tuned the design by
replacing physical IP with logic cells and memory that can drop
consumption even further.

ARM has already started licensing the architecture and expects the
first products to be available in Q4. It's still not clear what the
target market for the new CPU will be. You should probably expect them
in smartbooks and MIDs, although we wouldn't be surprised if some
vendors manage to squeeze them in to high-end smartphones later on.